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Karlsson's Great Season Continues

(3/11/12) Erik Karlsson is currently the NHL's best offensive defenseman. He will win the Norris Trophy at the NHL's award ceremony in Las Vegas this summer. Saturday night he scored 2 more goals and single-handedly kept the Senators in a game against Buffalo that they eventually lost in a shootout. Aside from Craig Anderson, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek, how exactly are the Senators even competitive this year?

Karlsson is the difference maker. He has 18 goals, 51 assists and, at the time of this writing, sits sixth overall in NHL scoring. Going forward there is nothing that indicates that his offensive prowess will regress. In each of his three seasons, his production has jumped: from 26 points in 60 games, to 45 in 75, to this year - 69 points in 69 games and counting.

Karlsson is a keeper if there ever was one. Although his numbers next season will likely not exceed his production in 2011-12, he should provide a repeat performance. Even a season with a slight decline would still be good enough to lead all defensemen in scoring. Our advice to keeper owners: go get him. Make the deal. Karlsson is worth it and, although the price tag will be steep, having the #1 offensive defenseman is a key piece to securing a fantasy champion$hip.

In other action from Saturday: PK Subbanscored again and is coming on down the stretch. He has 4 goals and 7 points in his last 7 games. We continue to see future success for this brash and relatively inexperienced second-year player. Subban is also keeper worthy.